ChronicleX: Andrew's Escape
by Dragon Mistress Syal
Summary: AU. Prequel to ChronicleX. Andrew Detmer wakes up in a strange facility after being almost fatally injured in the Seattle Incident. Now Andrew must try to escape these people who only seem to want him for his "mutant" powers.
1. Chapter 1

**Look! I finally posted something! This is a prequel to ****_ChronicleX_****, and happens in the same universe before that story and ****_X2: X-Men United_**** but after the movies ****_Chronicle_**** and the first ****_X-Men_****. So it is AU. It would be good to read ChronicleX before reading this, but not necessary. I will upload this story of about 7k words in 4 chapters over the next few weeks. I promise the other chapters will be longer than this one.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own X-Men or Chronicle. If I did, Chronicle would have a sequel and I would know Dane Dehaan and Shawn Ashmore. But alas, the world is a cruel place and I'm stuck here writing fanfiction. There are some OC's in this story though. I own them. Like that guy mentioned in the first paragraph, Daniel Rees. I won't own them anytime soon, but if I gain the rights, I'll tell you.**

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"Sir, this is a restricted area," Daniel Rees, an exasperated and exhausted police officer of the city of Seattle, Washington, said to the graying man wearing a suit in front of him. His entire force had had a very long night, and they had lost at least 4 officers to the unexplainable threat. Now he had to deal with keeping dozens of reporters and curious citizens away from the site where one of the two—at least they were pretty sure there had been two—fighter's dead body lay.

The man in front of Officer Rees flashed a badge so quickly that he couldn't even tell which acronym organization he was from. The older man pushed past him and walked towards the body with a sense of authority.

"Sir! May I see your badge again?" Rees called out to the man, not wanting to get in trouble for letting someone with a fake badge into the area—he'd seen his fair share of reporters try that trick even though it was a federal offense.

The man stopped and turned around, glaring at Rees with a cold stare. "I am from a branch of the military you have never heard of and never will, so let's leave it at that."

What, was he from the Men in Black or something? Rees wondered. He wanted to protest again, but the sheriff caught his eye and shook his head before turning to the man and shaking his hand.

The mysterious man thanked the sheriff before bending down to inspect the body. It was a Caucasian male with brown hair who appeared to be in his late teens. The boy was wearing a hospital gown and he had severe burns all over his face and arms. There was a long stone spear—about twenty feet long—through the boy's abdominal area. Looking around, he noticed that there was a statue nearby of a large man with an empty hand held above his head. Obviously, this was where the spear had originated from; therefore, he concluded, the other perpetrator had either telekinesis or super strength.

"Colonel Stryker," the sheriff said, "is there anything we can help you with?"

The military scientist thought for a moment before ordering, "Yes: clear your men out of here and move all reporters and civilians back at least hundred yards. This is now a matter of national security, so I will need you to confiscate all videos and photos of the incident."

The sheriff looked shocked, but quickly regained his composure. "Okay, men, new orders!" he yelled to his officers. "We are moving the line out fifty more yards! The FBI will take over this case, so our job is to keep civilians out of the way! Also, detain any witnesses and confiscate any footage or evidence!"

Rees and the other officers of Seattle had no choice but to obey orders, as strange as they were; that man did not strike Rees as a Fed.

No more than five minutes later, a helicopter landed in the no-go zone. A Japanese woman exited the helicopter and Stryker told her, "Trim this spear down for me, Yuriko, then load him up. Be careful not to damage the body any more than it already has been." The woman nodded and her nails shot out to be almost a foot long.

Ten minutes later, the helicopter took off with the victim of what would soon be known as the Seattle Incident, an event that the government was already trying to cover up.

-x-x-

He could feel his body for a few minutes and felt a slightly painful tingling sensation around his stomach. All he could hear was an incessant beeping and the faint sound of rushing water. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't move any muscles or open his eyes, so he drifted back into the nothingness.

-x-x-

_ "__Anyways, so I had my girlfriend hang all of the posters for my election campaign, and she came up with a really great idea for a promotional video. Would you film it for me, man?" Steve asked as he ate a sandwich. _

_"__Of course," Andrew replied, happy that his friend was letting him help. He looked around, wondering where his cousin was, and why he wasn't eating lunch on the bleachers with them. But as he looked around he noticed that the people walking by were blurry and faceless, and the food he was eating had no taste or texture. _

_"__I'm dreaming," Andrew realized. He turned to Steve. "Of course I am; you're dead." Andrew knew that he should feel guilty for what he did to his friend, but in this dream he was strangely calm and emotionless. _

_"__Yes, Steve Montgomery is dead," Steve said, but his voice didn't sound like Steve's; it was monotonous and echoed strangely. Also strange was the fact that his eyes were glowing with a harsh reddish-white light. "But you are not yet. You are still needed."_

_"__Needed for what?" Andrew asked._

_The fake-Steve ignored his question, and continued, "Your body is still healing, and it will take another week for you to fully regain consciousness. You have already built up partial immunity to the sedative, but it has slowed your healing process. If you had received these injuries any earlier in your development, there is a 92% chance that they would have proven fatal." Pseudo-Steve shook its head, as if disappointed. "If you clash with your cousin again, it will prove disastrous." _

_Suddenly, Pseudo-Steve vanished without as much as a puff of smoke to suggest that he was even there._

_Andrew found himself drifting into a different dream._

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**Thanks so much for reading! Reviews are nice XD**


	2. Chapter 2

**Special thanks to ****_ZeusKiller13_**** for being the first reviewer!**

**This chapter is longer than the first, yay!**

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As Andrew slowly regained the feeling of his limbs, he had a strange feeling of _déjà vu. _ After his sense of feeling was mostly back, the sounds of beeping and running water returned to his consciousness. However, this time he didn't feel any pain around his stomach. He experimentally tried to open an eye. To his surprise, he was suddenly greeted with the sight of a metal ceiling and a harsh spotlight. He squinted against the light until his eyes could focus and adjust after not being used for so long. In his peripheral vision he could see a monitor to his left—where the beeping was coming from—and walls only a few feet in each direction.

Andrew tried to sit up, only to find that there was something binding his head. A tug of each hand found both wrists to be bound as well. The same applied to his feet. He couldn't move his head enough to see the ties on his wrists or ankles, but he could tell from feel that they were bound by Velcro. He pictured the bindings on his wrists un-attaching, and he then heard the sound of Velcro ripping. He lifted his arms up to inspect them, and they were blemish-free except for an IV in his left arm and a pulse reader on his index finger. He used his right hand to pull them both out—the Iv very slowly—and a few seconds later the hole stopped bleeding and closed up. Interesting.

He reached above his head and unfastened the strap over his forehead. He then used his arms to push himself up into a sitting position and he used a thought to unfasten his feet.

Now that he could look around, he could tell that he was in an entirely metal room—except for the stone floor—about ten feet long by ten feet wide, the size of a small doctor's room. Or a cell. Actually, he was obviously in a combination of both. He had been hooked up to an IV and a heart monitor and there were syringes and other medical equipment lying on a cart near the table he had been strapped to; however, there were no windows and there appeared to be no door.

Since he wasn't wearing a shirt he noticed that he had a thick strip of bandages wrapped around his abdomen, and he started to unwrap them. As he dropped the bandages to the floor he inspected his belly to see that there was a red, harsh looking circle about three inches in diameter just above his belly button. He poked it curiously to find that it was a bit sore. Andrew then reached around to feel his back and he found that there was a higher area about the same size there, over his spine.

What had happened to him? Last thing he remembered, he had been in the hospital with his dad, and then, Matt! No, surely his cousin wouldn't have done this. But it came back to him that yes, in fact, he had been fighting his cousin before feeling a very sharp pain through his entire core. It was amazing that he had survived that, and there were no traces of any of the burns that had landed him in the hospital. Andrew smirked. He must have developed healing powers. Well, he wasn't going to let the miracle that he was alive go to waste, so he needed to get out of here and figure out everything that had happened while he was unconscious. How long had he even been unconscious?

Andrew pushed himself off of the table and promptly fell on his face when the drawstring pants he was wearing slipped under his feet. He sighed loudly before using the table to push himself into a standing position. He reached down to roll up each pant leg too; his captor hadn't even taken the care to give him correctly sized pants.

The monitor had stopped beeping since he unhooked himself from it, but it still had his information pulled up: "Mutant 135, 'Andrew Detmer'."

Andrew scowled. "Mutant?" What was that supposed to mean? He was an Apex Predator, not a freak of nature. And they had had the audacity to assign him a number. Who even were they?

Andrew slowly walked around the room, dragging one hand along the wall to help hold himself up. He felt his hand run over a crack from what must be the door. He followed the crack all of the way around the outline of the door, trying to feel for a latch or way to open it. When he touched the wall by the door on the other side at about chest height, a section of the wall lit up. There was a glowing outline in the size and shape of a hand. He placed his right hand on the outline and it flashed before reading "Error, unidentified" on top of the screen.

Andrew sighed. Of course they hadn't programmed his hand into the scanner; that would be too easy. He took a step back, inspecting the door. He tried to push and pull at it using his powers, but it didn't budge. He'd have to throw something at it then. The table would be best.

But as he prepared to attack the door, the screen lit back up, saying "Affirmed."

He hadn't touched it again, so someone from the other side must have done it. He took another step back as the door slid open and a tall woman wearing a lab coat walked through. She was looking down at her clipboard and humming some tune, so she didn't realize Andrew was there until he'd already thrown her into the wall and knocked her conscious, only giving her time to release a small cry of shock.

Andrew summoned the clipboard she was holding, and scanned the files. There were status reports and test results about him that made little sense to him, so he decided to look over them later.

Using his powers, Andrew dragged the doctor back over to the door and he grabbed her wrist to put her hand against the scanner, for the door had automatically closed. The door reopened, revealing a dimly lit hallway that stretched on in both directions. He saw two armed guards to the left, so he went that way, knowing that it must be towards the exit of whatever hellhole he was in.

He started casually walking down the hall towards the guards. When they saw him, one yelled and the other shot at him. Andrew deflected the bullet towards the other guard and with another flick of his wrist threw the guard that had shot at him into the wall. The guards had been wearing military uniforms, and Andrew stole the jacket off of the one that had shot at him—not to blend in or anything, just because he was cold in the strangely damp hallway.

He took the papers out of the clipboard he had stolen and stuffed them into one of the many pockets on the jacket before discarding the clipboard. He emptied out the other pockets containing items such as grenades, bullet clips, and a Hershey bar—well actually he ate that because he was hungry and the guy shouldn't have had it anyways. Well, the grenades and the guns might be fun and intimidating, but he didn't actually have a need for them so he left them lying by the unconscious bodies. (Well, the one who was shot may or may not be dead, but Andrew couldn't find it in him to care).

Why where there men armed this heavily guarding his room? Well he knew that he was powerful enough to warrant guards, but it worried him that they had been wearing military uniforms. That meant that he must be in a secret government facility.

He continued down the hallway, munching on the chocolate bar and looking for any exits. He made a few more turns and took out six more guards before he saw a man going into a large set of metal double-doors. He slipped in behind him to find himself in a control room with monitors and computers all along the back wall.

"What are you—" one of the tree men in the room exclaimed before he was thrown up towards the ceiling. Before the other two could grab their guns, Andrew also dispatched them.

He strode over to the computers and opened the folder labeled "Mutants" on one since he had been labeled as a mutant by these people. A list of names popped up, none which he recognize except his own name. He read over his own file, which had all of his personal information and even information on his powers. He also found a file of the blueprints of the place, which he scanned over and used to memorize the route to the exit. There was no printer in the room, but there was a flash drive plugged into one of the other computers so he pulled it out and put it into his. He dragged his file along with all of the other mutants' into the drive, along the map and files named "Cerebro" and "Cure." He couldn't access any other files on the computer without a password, so he removed and pocketed the flash drive.

But as he went to leave the room, the door opened and a graying older man in a military uniform and a Japanese woman wearing a business suit entered. Andrew flung them away, but the woman quickly recovered and charged him.

"Capture Mutant 13 but don't kill him, Yuriko!" the man ordered as he slowly pushed himself to his feet.

"I have a name!" Andrew growled.

Andrew floated out of the way as the woman sliced with freakishly long fingernails at where he had been just a moment ago. "Holy shit!" Andrew exclaimed as he saw her nails, which definitely hadn't been that long a second ago.

Yuriko leaped at him and grabbed his foot because he couldn't go any higher in the small room. He tried to kick her off, but she was extremely strong and pulled him down. She let go of his foot and used her hand to slash at him, and he couldn't get away fast enough to avoid receiving long gashes across his arm that went through the stolen jacket.

He yanked with his powers and she flew behind him as he ran to the door.

"Stryker, sir!" a guard yelled as he ran in and ran to help the man leaning against the wall.

"Don't mind me, get him!" he exclaimed, pushing the soldier off of him and drawing a pistol. He fired a shot and Andrew deflected it, but that slowed him down enough for Yuriko to slash at him again from the back. He finally made it out of the control room, Yuriko and the guard right on his heels, but he was now in a hallway that led to a bigger room and then the exit. So he took off flying as fast as he could while the man shot at him and the woman tried to keep up. One shot grazed his leg, but he didn't slow down or look back as he ripped open the doors out of the compound and flew out.

Now he could get high enough that the nail woman had no way of reaching him, and he flew out past a damn and a lake into the forest.

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**Okay guys, I have a proposition for you: I really need a superhero name for Matt! I've already established that Andrew will go by Apex Predator, but I'm really having trouble thinking up something for Matt. I know that I had a scene in ChronicleX where Matt, Bobby, and Rogue discussed names, but anything I came up with was mentioned sarcastically in that conversation. So could everyone please PM me or review with ideas for names for Matt? As you know, his powers are telekinesis, flight, and healing, just like Andrew. **

**Whoever comes up with the winning name will get a mention and credit for the name. I will also give that person a sneak preview of an upcoming chapter! Please please help, because the next story will be no fun if Matt spends the whole thing complaining about his codename. The help would be greatly appreciated! ****names are hard and the hardest part of writin**g


	3. Chapter 3

**Quick reminder that I still need suggestions for a superhero codename for Matt. While he won't show up in this story, Matt will name a name for the next story in the ChronicleX series. Please please please help by either PMing or reviewing with suggestions. ****Whoever comes up with the winning name will get a mention and credit for the name. I will also give that person a sneak preview of a chapter in the sequel! Remember, Matt's powers are flight, telekinesis, and self-healing. **

**Also, thanks to everyone who reads this!**

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Andrew only made it a mile before he had to stop from exhaustion and pain. He touched down in the woods and sat down by a tree.

He pulled one arm of the jacket off to inspect the scratches he had received from the nail-woman. They had halfway healed, and as he watched them the healing process sped up. He realized that his newhealing powers must not have worked as quickly while he was also using his power of flight. Andrew knew that he could use multiple powers at once because he used his telekinesis all the time while flying, but it was slightly harder and more exhausting than using telekinesis while on the ground.

He also felt the scratches on his back start to heal. When he saw that his arm was mostly healed, he put the jacket back on; he hadn't realized in his panicked escape just how cold it was. It felt like it must be at most forty degrees Fahrenheit. Sure, he was used to damp and cold weather from living in Seattle, but all he had on were a pair of thin sweatpants and a jacket. Also, flying in the air always made one very cold.

Then again, this obviously wasn't Seattle, Washington, or anywhere near Seattle. For one thing, the trees were a mix of deciduous and coniferous trees, unlike how most of the trees where he came from were evergreen pines and spruces. Andrew had never really cared about or paid much attention to trees, but Matt had gone through a "save the Earth" phase in eighth grade when he made a reluctant Andrew help him chart trees. Matt had gotten over that phase quickly, but Andrew had apparently retained some of that knowledge.

Andrew frowned at the thought of his cousin. Where was Matt? What had happened to him after their fight? Andrew was very angry at his cousin for what he did to him—well a lot of it was a blank but he for sure remembered flying around Seattle and then feeling a sharp pain from his back which must be where the scar in his midsection came from—but now that he looked back on it, he had gone about helping his mother the wrong way. He could still remember the red haze that had covered everything when he'd heard about his mother's death, and while it had made him powerful, it had obviously made him so distracted to be caught off guard, a nearly fatal mistake.

Andrew shook those thoughts from his head; the cold was getting to him and he needed to figure where he was.

Making sure his jacket was secure and wouldn't open, letting in cold air, he stood up and levitated off of the ground so that he could see over the tree line. Then he took off away from the direction of the compound.

It felt like hours later and the sun was going down when Andrew spotted people on the ground. He would have just flown over, but he could smell the food being cooked over their fire. He backtracked before they could see him, and he landed in the woods about half a mile away from the campsite. He walked back towards the campsite, staying hidden.

He got close enough where he could clearly see the people camping but still stay hidden behind a tree. Andrew could now see three people sitting by the fire, a man and his two children, a son of about fourteen and a daughter of about sixteen. They were talking and laughing while they held sticks with hotdogs on the ends over the fire. Suddenly, the daughter stopped laughing.

"Dad, did you hear that?" she asked, looking around.

"Stop being paranoid, Macey," the brother said in annoyance. "Gosh, you girls are such scaredy-cats."

"You're the one that was convinced that your room was haunted for years, Ollie," Macey teased right back.

"Because it was!" he said indignantly.

"Shush," the father said, now looking around himself. He stood up slowly and walked towards one of the two tents where Andrew could see a gun. He decided that this was the time to show himself.

He came out from behind the tree and pretended to stumble into the clearing the campsite was in. He looked around as if confused, and then he saw the dad now pointing a shotgun at him. "Don't shoot!" he exclaimed, putting his hands up in the surrender position, which really wouldn't hinder him if he needed to use his powers. He really did not feel like getting shot again. All he wanted was some of that food, and maybe some warmer clothes.

"Who are you?" the dad demanded, not lowering the gun.

"I was just hiking and I got lost and I don't know where my stuff went or where I am," Andrew said, the lies flowing off of his tongue. Well, the part about being lost was true anyway.

"Then why are you wearing that?" the man asked, nodded towards Andrew's chest.

He looked down, realizing that he was still wearing the stolen military jacket, and how that must seem suspicious on a "lost hiker."

"Cool, Dad, it's a soldier!" the son exclaimed in excitement.

"Oh, this is my father's," Andrew said, the word sounding sour on his tongue. "He just let me borrow it because it's so warm." That lie almost hurt him because he was still really cold. That was probably more due to the fact that the jacket was too big and he had nothing on under it.

"Why are you barefoot?" the son asked curiously.

"I stepped in a stream and my boots got really wet and muddy."

The father eyed him for another minute before finally lowering the shotgun and saying, "Come on, let's get some food, you must be hungry."

And that's how Andrew found himself sitting around a fire and eating hotdogs with Macey, Oliver, and their father Mr. Everett. They had even been nice enough to let him borrow a pair of thick wool socks and a pair of old raggedy sneakers that they had brought camping because it wouldn't matter if they got ruined. Andrew was just thankful that he hadn't developed hypothermia yet, but maybe his powers helped with that some.

Andrew talked with the Everetts for a while, and he found that they were really nice people, even though Macey and Oliver wouldn't stop insulting each other. But maybe that was usual for siblings, not that Andrew would know.

Soon, it was dark out and Mr. Everett said, "Macey and Oliver will sleep in the small tent. I'll share the other with Andrew here."

"But Dad, I was going to get a tent for myself!" Macey protested.

"Well, you can learn to share," Mr. Everett said, his voice leaving no room for protests. Andrew understood his reasoning, though; he wanted to keep an eye on this stranger and he surely wasn't going to let a stranger sleep in the same tent as his children. Of course, Andrew knew that he wasn't a serial killer or anything, but he couldn't blame the father. The man turned to Andrew, "We have a satellite phone that you can use to contact someone, and then you can head out in the morning."

"Thank you," Andrew said as the man went to get the satellite phone. The text in the top corner of the screen proclaimed the date as "4/2." Andrew gasped; he had lost two months of his life in that facility. He had no one to actually call, so he dialed a random number, which turned out to be a pizza place. "Hi Dad…Yeah I'm fine…Some nice people are letting me stay with them…Of course, I'll ask where that is and head out in the morning…Bye," he said into the phone as the pizza person tried to talk over him and get him to actually order. He ended the call and handed it back to Mr. Everett. "Do you have a map so I can find the nearest town?"

They went into the tent after Mr. Everett sent his children into the other tent, and then he pulled out a large map. He laid it out on the ground and shone his flashlight on it, revealing the state of New York. Andrew suppressed a groan; he had hoped to at least still be somewhere in the northwest, but instead he was literally across the country with a huge chunk of time missing. To make matters even worse, Mr. Everett pointed to a very empty spot in the middle of the map. "The nearest major town is approximately 50 miles, but there are some small towns between here and there."

Andrew pointed to a random nearby town, which was actually about 15 miles away. "My dad says he is here, which is to the south. I guess I'll start hiking that way first thing in the morning."

"Sorry, but we're heading west, so you'll have to make it yourself."

"Well, thanks for all of the help so far," Andrew said sincerely, even though he was extremely frustrated inside. It wasn't Mr. Everett's fault that he was out here though; that was Stryker's fault. Andrew yawned. "I think I'm going to go ahead and sleep."

"I'm going to stay up for a few more hours, but that's fine. We don't have any extra sleeping bags, but I can give you some blankets," Mr. Everett offered.

Just a few minutes later, Andrew was lying under some assorted old quilts in the tent, his back turned to Mr. Everett who was reading a book with a flashlight. He had planned to wait until the family was asleep before he left, but he found himself drifting off.

Andrew awoke just before dawn, and it took him a few minutes to remember where he was. He looked over to see that Mr. Everett was asleep. Andrew sat up as quietly as he could and he snuck over to where Mr. Everett's suitcase was laying. He slowly unzipped it and dug through it for more clothes. Andrew took out a plain t-shirt along with a sweatshirt and a pair of blue jeans. He quickly changed into the clothes. He left the sweatpants he had been wearing in the suitcase but put his stolen jacket back on. Even though the clothes were too big, Oliver's would probably be too small on him. Also, he'd have to sneak into the other tent for them. He also put the tennis shoes he had borrowed last night back on his feet.

Feeling much warmer and more comfortable than he had since he'd left the compound, Andrew unzipped and left the tent before resealing it. Their cooler was sitting outside of the tent, and it had a padlock on it to protect from wild animals looking for a snack. Andrew simply snapped the lock using his powers and opened the cooler, revealing sandwich ingredients, camping popcorn, and a pack of eggs, presumably to make omelets. He grabbed the half-loaf of bread, knowing that while it wasn't the tastiest item they had, it would give him energy. He also took the single hotdog left over from last night and started eating that right away. There was a pack of water bottles nearby, and he grabbed two of those.

Andrew didn't take anything else, since he didn't want these people to actually starve or be stranded out here. Also, he didn't want to carry too much.

The sun was starting to peek through the trees, and Andrew heard the sound of someone waking up. Taking that as his cue to leave, he lifted up and flew off with the rising sun to his left, heading south.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hey guys! I am so sorry that this took so long to get this up. I've been having internet problems and lots of other not really viable excuses. Anyways, here is the final chapter! I'm sorry for any formatting problems. I don't know what happened there.**

A few hours later, Andrew found himself in civilization, in a central New York town. He landed and found an internet café. Andrew went to the very back of the business to a spot that would make it hard for others to shoulder surf, and he plugged in the stolen flash drive.

Andrew held his breath as the files pulled up, showing a long list of names that he didn't recognized. Each name had a number by it—Andrew's was "135"—and there were even a couple of numbers that didn't have a name. Out of curiosity, Andrew clicked on the number right below his name, "Mutant 136."

A file with grainy pictures of a flying person showed up. Andrew stifled a gasp; these people even had a file on Matt! He was glad that they hadn't identified Matt, but Andrew could tell that it was his cousin from the pictures, which were of the fight in Seattle. The top of the file read:

_Known powers: flight, telekinesis_

_Name: Unknown_

_Gender: Male_

_Age: late teen_

_Physical: approx. 5'9"; approx. 140 lbs; no physical mutations known_

_Notes: Relation to Mutant 135?_

There wasn't much else about Matt, but it still worried Andrew that these people had kidnapped him and had creepy files on him and Matt.

Andrew went back and read his own file. There was a picture attached of what must be him wearing a hospital gown while laying on the ground with a big spear running through him. Andrew unconsciously touched his chest where there was a scar from the injury. There were also pictures of him being operated on at the facility. He looked away from the picture, feeling like he was going to throw up.

_Known powers: flight, telekinesis, enhanced healing factor._

_Name: Andrew Lucas Detmer_

_Gender: Male_

_Age: 17_

_Physical: 5'8"; 135 lbs; no physical mutations _

_Acquired: January 28_

_Notes: Danger to society; volatile; should be kept under close watch when awakens; possible asset if tamed_

_Dr. Isabella Richen, January 30: New patient has average appearance, so no physical mutations are present. Patient is in critical condition and will require extensive care. Stab and burn wounds may prove fatal. _

_February 17: Subject is still in a coma and unresponsive. 135's chest wound has started to close itself. I suspect a self-healing mutation. More research required. _

_February 28: Finally done with the DNA testing, yet I still can't identify 135's x-gene. Possibly new variant. _

_March 14: Subject continues to heal at an unnatural rate. Internal organs are repairing themselves. Condition has stabilized. Tests show rapid healing of lacerations to arms. Larger scale tests to be run when subject regains consciousness._

And there were no more notes.

Andrew started shaking with anger. These people had purposely cut him just to see if he would heal! And Dr. Richen had been talking in terms as if he was a test subject and not a human being! The computer screen in front of him started shaking, and he slowed down his breathing to get a hold of his powers. If he drew attention to himself that way, those people might show up and try to take him back and finish their "tests." He, Andrew, and Steve had joked about secret MiB-type government agencies that would want them for their powers, but he hadn't expected to actually be captured by one, let alone for one to actually exist.

"Sir, are you okay?" a young waitress said?

"Yeah, I'm fine," Andrew ground out. He minimized the files and opened a browser. "I just read a really bad email."

"Are you going to buy anything…" the girl asked.

"Um, yeah, I'll have a…" Andrew looked over at the menu board "…glazed donut please." He hadn't had anything sweet in literally months. He dug out some of the money he had stolen and paid for the donut before returning to the files.

He decided to wait to look at the other people's files and instead he opened the file called "Cure." What, where these monsters curing cancer? A quick scan showed Andrew that the supposed cure was to take away abilities, somehow using some kid they'd found. Why would anyone want to get rid of what made them powerful? Andrew exited out of the file, disgusted that these cowards would want to remove powers. He would kill them all before letting them take his powers.

Next, he checked out "Cerebro." The file consisted of blueprints and diagrams of what looked like a giant sphere. There were complex calculations that meant nothing to Andrew, and the repeated use of the words "mutants" and "telepath."

Andrew knew what a telepath was from their research when they had first gotten their powers, but did one really exist? From what he could decipher, the machine would enhance the power of a telepath. Why would these people have one file about destroying powers and another about enhancing them?

He then scanned the file for names and found two used repeatedly: Charles Xavier and Erik Lehnsherr. Apparently Xavier was the telepath necessary for the use of Cerebro, and Lehnsherr was a valuable source of information.

Andrew went back to the people files and found the two men's files. Xavier was a telepath—Andrew wished he had that power—who owned some sort of school to do with mutants. _What, like Sky High? _Andrew thought.

Apparently Xavier and Lehnsherr had both been part of building one of these Cerebro machines, but Lehnsherr was the main source of information because he was incarcerated and therefore easy to interrogate. Xavier was needed in order to use this Cerebro machine.

Andrew looked through the files again and again, but he couldn't find out what Stryker wanted to do with the machine.

But that wasn't what was important; what was important was that these men probably had information on Stryker and his facility and could prove to be allies in Andrew's revenge. Andrew could stoop to teamwork if it meant getting back at the people whom had captured him and planned to experiment on him. In order to talk to Xavier, he'd have to go to a school, which Andrew definitely didn't want to do. That meant he had to go find Lehnsherr.

**Tada! Thanks so much for everyone who read this and to ZeusKiller13 who reviewed on every chapter. While I am supper thankful to Zeus Killer for suggesting names for Matt, I am still open to anybody's suggestions. That is still open until the posting of the next story.**

**Speaking of the next story... I was accepted into my dream college and I have to get ready for that and I have to really hard classes next semester, so I'm not sure at all when it will happen, sorry. I will try to have it up as soon as possible, and when it is I will post an AN as chapter five in this story mentioning it with all the details. But I'm not going to make any promises about that since I'm not really sure myself when that will happen.**

**And I love you all so much for reading! I hope you enjoyed XD**


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